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Hi all,
there have been previous threads on the subject but recently I came across some interesting references.
Particularly, Dr Doug McGuff's Super slow Hi intensity training. References:
MCGuff, John Little book: body by science
McGuff's interview in stemtalk podcast
Interweb reviews.
The concept is interesting, in that it implies very limited time, allegedly recruits fast twitch 2B fibers, takes to failure muscles allowing to stimulate mTOR phosphorylation hence muscle protein synthesis, all in an injury-less fashion. Sounds too good to be true.
The basic original workout needs gym machines, lasts 10-15 minutes (/only once per week) and is illustrated by McGuff himself.
PROS: mTOR activation, enhanced MPS, extremely short time required, very simple routine 5 exercises
CONS: machines required, gym membership for very little time
The concept includes adopting a vaible weight and executing the exercise in a very slow fashion, 5 to 12 second per lift. Weight lifted is irrilevant, whereas we count TUL=Time under load. Only one set of 5 different exercises.
The physical concept sounds correct, that is, slow acceleration and little mass means slow force or mechanical stress applied on muscles and skeleton (F=ma) hence probability of injury is greatly decreased.
Whereas the boost to mTOR phosphorylation remains.
I tried super-slow in squats, and it really burns after a few reps.
I find though that in bench press for example, super slow decreases mechanical stress but increases time under stress and that may not be a favourable aspect for some other effects. On the other side, an optimal, light weight should be chosen. MAchines are also inherently safer.
TUL should be in the region of 60-90 seconds.
I'm going to investigate further on other possible ways to adopt super slow training without gym machines.